102 BULLETIN 57, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



1865. Megadennata Peters, Monatsber. k. preuss. Akad. Wissensch., Berlin, 



p. 25(1 (part). 

 186G. Rhinolophidw (part; Megadermina) Gray, Proc. Zool. Soc, London, 



p. 83. 

 1872. Megailcrmidw Gill, Arrangement of the Families of Mammals, p. 17 



(part). 

 1875. Niicteriihr (part; Megaderminte) Doeson, Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., 



4th ser., XVI, p. 348. 

 1878. Nycteriihc (part; Megaderminw) Dobson, Catal. Chiropt Brit. Mus., 



p. 154. 

 1880. Megadcrmidw Gill, Standard Natural History, V, p. 164 (part). 



1891. Kyctcridw Flower and Lydekker, Mammals living and extinct, p. 058 

 (part). 



1892. Rhinolophidw (part; Megadermatini, part, Megadermata) Wingk, 

 Jordfundne og nulevende Flagermus (Chiroptera) fra Lagoa Santa, 

 Minas Geraes, Brasilien, p. 24. 



1907. Mcgadcrmatithr Andersen and Wroughton, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., 7th 

 ' series, XIX, p. 129, February, 1907. 



■Geographic distribution. — Tropical Africa, southern Asia, the 

 Malay region to the Philippine Islands, Australia. 



Characters. — Humerus and shoulder joint as in the Nycteridse; 

 second finger with one phalanx; third with two; shoulder girdle 

 abnormal in the great widening of anterior portion of presternum 

 (greatest width nearly four times length) and in the fusion of this 

 widened portion, together with the first rib, first dorsal, and seventh 

 cervical vertebrae, into a solid ring of bone; keel of sternum only 

 moderately developed; fibula threadlike, less than half as long as 

 tibia ; pelvis normal, the ischia free posteriorly ; skull with postorbital 

 processes short or practically absent, usually obscured by wide supra- 

 orbital ridges; premaxillaries absent; upper canines projecting no- 

 ticeably forward, the shaft with a large secondary cusp; tragus pres- 

 ent, bifid ; muzzle with conspicuous leaflike cutaneous outgrowths. 



History. — The history of this family is the same as that of the 

 Nycteridse. 



Remarks. — Although undoubtedly a near ally of the Nycteridse, 

 this group appears to be well characterized as a family. It closely 

 resembles the Nycteridse in the form of the humerus and structure 

 of the shoulder joint, and usually though not invariably in the form 

 of the skull. It differs from the related family in the presence of 

 the fibula, the bifid tragus, long, erect noseleaf, rudimentary carti- 

 laginous condition of the premaxillaries and consequent absence of 

 the upper incisors, projection forward and bicuspidate structure of 

 the upper canines, fused presternum and first sternal rib, and pres- 

 ence of well-developed phalanx in second finger. Externally the 

 members of the group may be recognized by their very short tails, 

 large ears with bifid tragi, and long, erect noseleaves. 



Principal subdivisions. — Five genera are currently recognized. 



